Merchandise-vending machine



'April 26,1927.

A. CANTRELL MERCHANDISE vsumue MACHINE Filed April 21. 1926 5 Sheets-Sheet l dummy 1,625,845 Aprll 26, 1927- A, cANTRELL MERCHANDI SE VENDING MACHINE Filed April 21. 1926 s Sheets-Sheec- 2 gwuenloz ado x we April 26, 1927. 32

A. CANTRELL MERCHANDISE vmwme momma Filed April 21. 1926 s Sheets-Sheet s Patented Apr. 26, 1927.

UNITED STATES ALONZO CANTRELL, OF SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH.

MERCHANDISE-VENDING MACHINE.

Application filed April 21, 1926.

My invention relates to vending machines and has for its object to provide a new and useful device for vending small articles.

A; further object is to provide a new and etlicient machine for vending candy or similar articles in which only one article can be taken from the machine at a time and in which the buyer serves himself by placing a coin in a slot and turning the handle.

A still further object is to provide an ethcient vending machine in which the buyer serves himself and can only get one article for each coin inserted in the machine.

In vending machines of this type ithas been difficult to vend each articleseparately and to make a machine which will not clog or 1' am with merchandise and one which will always be in position to serve the customer when it is desired. With my invention I pi ovide a machine which will overcome the objections and one which will be easily and cheaply constructed.

These objects I accomplish with the de vice illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which similar numerals and letters of reference indicate like parts throughout the several viewsand as described inthe specification forming part of this application and pointed out in the appended claim. v

in the drawings in which I have shown the best and most substantial embodiment Of my inventiomFigure 1 is a perspective view of my invention in the case. Figure 2 is side elevation of the manually operated parts of my invention. Figure 3 is a sec tion on line 3-3 of Figure 1". Figure at is a front elevation of one of the carton holding cups. Figure ,5 is a view of the same with the closure plate lowered as when the merchandise has been sold. Figure 6 is a side elevation of the same with part of the belt shown thereon. Figure 7 is a plan view of the inneriace otthe outer plate in the coin directing part of my invention. Figure 8 is a view of the inner face of the second plate. Figure 9 is view oi the inner face of the next plate with the catch in place therein. Figure 10 is a view of the inner tace or the inner plate. l igurc 11 is a section of the catch housing. Figure 12 is an edge elevation of the same. Figure 13 is an end elevation of the same. Figure 1% is a plan view of the coin carrying plate, by which the coin is advanced within the device. Figure 15 is an edge elevation of the same.

Serial No. 103,454.

Figure 16 is a side elevation 01": the machine with the coin handling mechanism removed. Figure 17 is a section on line 1'?17 of Figure 2. Figure 18 is a side elevation of the bottom drum and ratchet plate. And Figure 19 is a side elevation of the upper drum showing the ratchet stops thereon.

In the drawings I have shown the casing in which my machine is mounted and car ried and within which it is operated as A. Within said casing A, I provide a box or irame work B, within which I mount two drums, 1 and 2. The face at said drum 1 has radially disposed portions 3 struck from one face thereof with which radial port-ions 3 one end of a spring 4 engages by friction to preventunintentional rotation of the drum when the machine is not being operated. An endless belt or chain 5 is carried on said drums l and 2 and on which belt a plurality oi cups 6 are provided in which the merchandise to be sold is carried. The said cups 6 are made of an angled base member 7 which is bent up at the corners, at 8, to keep the merchandise from falling out at the ends (see Figures 4, 5 and 6). A cover plate 9 is hingedly connected to said base 7 and is held in movable relation to said base member 7 b y the springs 10. A hook 11 is. provided on the lower inner face of said box l3 and which hook 11 engagesthe respective cover plates 9 to flex the spring 10 and open them when they have been revolved and brought into place for emptying the merchandise out of and through a slot cut in the bottom of the said box B. The said casing A is provided with an outer flanged portion C on the lower front side thereof and has a hole D back of said flange C. The merchandise when released from the cups 6 by the opening ot the cover plates 9. falls from the bottom of the said box l3. through said hole I) and onto said flanged portion G where the purchaser may pick it up. A coin operated turning mechanism E is secured to the outer face of the said box B, and the lower drum 2 is operated by said mechanism E when a coin has been inserted in said mechanism E and it is turned, through a slotted hole 12 cut in one side oi said box B and adjacent said mechanism It. A slotted opening B is cut inthe end of the said boX B and adjacent the belt 5 through which the belt 5 is loaded when the supply is exhausted from the cups (3.

The coin operating mechanism consists of IOU four plates, 13, 14, and 16, held in parallel fixed relation to each other by the bolts 17. The plates 13 and 14 are spaced from the plates 15 and 16 by the spacer sleeves 18, and the entire mechanism is held in fixed relation to the box B by the same bolts 17 which pass through all of the plates, and the bolts are held in the side wall of the box B by the nuts 19. All of the plates have a hole20 bored therethrough in which the shaft 21 is rotatably carried and operated. The inner side face 01' the plate 13 is cutto form an irregular recess in which the movable trigger 23 and the coin directing disk 24 are mounted (see Figure 7). The said trigger 23 i pivoted to said plate 13 by the pivot pin 25 and has a pin or lug 26 mounted on its inner face, which lug pro trodes through the plate 14 in a segment slot 27 cutin said plate 14. The disk 24 secured to the shaft 21 and rotates therewith. A lug or pin 28 is secured on the inner face of said disk and operates through an arc-shaped slot 29, which is cut in said plate 14 on a circle having the shaft 21 as its axis. The upper side portion of the said recess 22 is extended through the edge of the plate 13 to form a coin receiving slot 30, and a semicircular segment 50 is cut from the upper side of the said disk in which said coin is carried and delivered to the lower portion of said recess 22. The plate 14 is secured to the back of said plate 13 by the bolts 17 with the pins 26 and 28 in their respective slots 27 and 29 respectively. Pins 31 and 32 are secured in one side of the plate 14 to hold a spring 33 in contact with the pin 26. A spiral spring 34 is secured to the said plate 14 by the pin 35 and the other end of which spring is engaged with a lug 36 provided 011 one side of the said shaft 21. These two plates 13 and 14 are spaced from the plate 15 by the spacer sleeves 18. The said plate 15 has a semi-circular slot 29, similar to the slot 29, cut in the plate 14 and in alinement therewith, in which the pin 28 is operated. An irregular recess 37 is cut in the back side of the said plate 15 in which a thin casing 38 is operated, and pivoted on the shaft/21. A. slot 27 is cut in said plate 15 in alinenient with the said slot 27 in the plate 14 and within which slot 27 the pin 26 is operated. The said casing 38 is recessed longitudinally, as at 39, Figure 11, in which a sliding dog or bar 40 is longitudinally slidable; a recess 41 is out at an angle to said recess 39, and a spring 42 is operatively carried therein with its outer end secured to the casing 38 and its free end secured in a slot 42 cut in the side of the said bar 40. The said bar 40 has a notch 43 cut in its lower end in which the pin 28 is caught when thewheel disk 24 is rotated after a coin has been placed in the half circular segment of the disk wheel 24. A spring dog 44 is pivotally mounted on the outer face of the said casing 38 by the pin 46 between the mounting 45, which is secured to the said casing 38. A spring 47 is carried between said dog 44 and said mounting 45, to hold said (log in a yielding position at all times. The plate 16 is secured on the inner side 01' said plate 15 and said plate 16 has a semi-circular slot 48 cut therethrough and through which the dog 44 is operated. A similar slot 12 is cut in the side of the box B and the dog 44 is operated through said two slots 48 and 12 to engage with the said ratchet wheel on the face of the drum 2 to rotate said drum and the other parts carried in the said box B. A spring 54 is secured at one end to the plate 13 and the other end bears against the edge of the casing 38 to yieldingly hold said casing in such position that the catch bar 40 will bear against the pin 26 until said casing 38 is moved on its pivot 21 away from the pin 26.

The operation of my device is as follows The cups 6 are loaded with merchandise through the opening B and the device is placed on the counter of a store or other place of business in which goods are to he sold. The operator or purchaser then drops a coin into the slot 52 and the coin falls through the coin receiving slot 30 into the segment hole 50. The operator then turns the handle 51 and the disk 24 is thereby rotated, moving the coin around with it in the arc of a circle. When the coin has reached the trigger 23 in the recess 22, the movement of the coin and disk will turn the trigger 011 its pivot 25 and the pin 26 will move in the slots 27 and 27 and the inner end portion of the pin 26 will force the bar 40 iongitudinally in the casin 38. At the same time, the pin 28 in the digit 24 is being moved in the slots 29 and 29. The force of the pin 26 on the upper end of the bar 40 will turn the casing 38 on its pivot 21, and when the casing 38 has been rotated sufficiently, the bar 40 will be held in its groove 3.) by the inner face of the cut 37 in the plate 15. The pin 28 will, at the same time, be advancing, and as the bar 40 is held in its extreme inner position in the casing 38, the pin 28 will catch in the groove 43 of the bar 40 and will then act as the force which tums the casing 38. During the time that the casing 38 has been turning the dog 44 has been engaged with one of the teeth 53 on the ratchet wheel face of the drum 2!; land, as the handle 51 is turned, the entire asse1nbly is turned and the cover plate is opened by the catch pin 11 and the merchandise is delivered into the flange portion G. Then to repeat the operation, another coin must be placed in the coin slot 30. When a coin is not in the segment cut 50 of the disk 24 the trigger 23 Will not be operated even if the handle 51 is turned, and the pin 26 does not move in its slot 27 consequently, the goods can not be delivered Without being paid for.

Having thus described my invention I desire to secure by Letters Patent and claim A vending machine comprising a casing having a coin receiving slot in its upper end; a manually-operated coin directing mechanism mounted in said casing, said mechanism consisting of spaced apart parallel plates; a shaft pin journalled in said plates; a recess formed in the inner face of the outer of said plates; a trigger member pivoted and operated Within said recess; a coin receiving and directing disk secured on said shaft pin, and having a laterally projecting pin therein; arc-shaped slots cut in the adj acent one of said plates, and Within which slots the said lateral pin is operated; an irregular recess is cut in the side of another of said plates; a thin casing operable in said irregular shaped recess and pivoted on said shaft pin; a spring held catch longitudinally movable in said thin casing; a spring held dog pivotally mounted on the outer face of said thin casing; a plate 16 having a semicircular slot therein is secured to the recessed plate; a ratchet Wheel formed on the outer face ofa drum; slots cut in the said plate 16 and similar slots cut in the Wall adjacent through Which the said spring held dog engages With the teeth of said ratchet wheel,

whereby the drum is intermittently rotated. In testimony whereof I have atlixed my signature. I

ALONZO GANTRELL. 

